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Surgere Teams up with Fat Boy Racing to Raise Funds and Awareness for StopGap Foundation

July 9, 2019

‘A Dollar a Lap to Stop the Gap’ – American motorsports team to raise money for Canadian charity, StopGap Foundation, at the Honda Indy in Toronto.

July 9, 2019 (Toronto, Canada) – American motorsports team Fat Boy Racing, with the support of their sponsor Surgere, are joining forces to raise money and awareness for Canadian charity StopGap Foundation at the 2019 Honda Indy in Toronto.

StopGap will receive $1 in donations from Fat Boy Racing sponsor Surgere for every lap completed in any of the three divisions of the Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires, the highly competitive support series for the NTT IndyCar Series.

StopGap Foundation, co-founded by Luke Anderson, is a Toronto-based, accessibility focused charity whose aim is to create a barrier-free world, one ramp at a time.

“I co-founded the StopGap Foundation after my frustration with not being able to access spaces reached a tipping point” said Luke Anderson. “As a wheelchair user I’m all too familiar with the large percentage of spaces (between 60-75% in most neighbourhoods) that are not physically accessible.”

StopGap manufacturers and distributes the innovative, brightly painted accessibility ramps to businesses and educates the public of the benefits of a barrier-free society.

Since 2010, StopGap has populated the world with over 2000 accessibility ramps.

“We love coming to Toronto and the race fans from this city are amazing” said Brendan Puderbach, Fat Boy Racing Team Owner and Manager. “This year we decided we wanted to give back to the city by supporting the StopGap Foundation. They have done great things to make Toronto a more accessible city for everyone. We are grateful for our sponsor Sugere and the Road to Indy who are supporting this fundraising initiative we are calling A Dollar a Lap to Stop The Gap.”

“We’re working with like-minded advocates in communities all across Canada to help ensure that society’s collective understanding about the importance of accessibility and inclusion continues to advance and grow” said Anderson.

“Surgere knows a thing or two about removing barriers, as they work on removing barriers to access to information and data on the management of goods and production processes. Their donation will help support our awareness raising projects, remove barriers, and ultimately help so many people reach their full potential.”

“We’re incredibly excited to support A Dollar a Lap to Stop the Gap,” said William Wappler, CEO & President of Surgere. “We built Surgere’s corporate culture around working hard, having fun, and giving back. When we find opportunities that allow us to do all three – it’s a win-win. The StopGap Foundation is genuinely changing the daily lives of individuals who continuously face access barriers – we’re proud to support a cause that’s so important.”

Fat Boy Racing is inviting Toronto race fans to drop by their garage in the Road to Indy Paddock (located in the Enercare Centre at Exhibition Place) to learn more about StopGap, speak directly with StopGap volunteers or to donate to the charity.

StopGap Foundation

After suffering a high-level spinal cord injury mountain biking, StopGap Foundation co-founder and Executive Director Luke Anderson “instantly found himself living in a world not well designed for someone who gets around using a wheelchair, where a single step is as large a barrier as a flight of stairs” (stopgap.ca). As the inaccessible world began to frustrate Anderson, he realized the issue of accessibility in Toronto needed to be addressed and the first brightly painted ramp was placed in front of a store front featuring the now iconic STOPGAP.CA stencil.

StopGap is currently looking to raise funds to research and dissect public policy to address the disconnect between existing bylaws that restrict access and the need for accessibility in alignment with the Province of Ontario’s goal to be fully barrier free by 2025.

StopGap has been raising awareness of the importance of a barrier free society through their School Project program by visiting elementary schools to educate and empower youth to connect with single step entry-way business owners. In turn, the students help paint and distribute the ramps to these businesses.

Donations can be made directly to the charity at www.StopGap.ca. Each accessible ramp StopGap builds costs around $250.

Fat Boy Racing is a “race team hell bent on having fun” and competes in the IndyPro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires division of the Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires. With Brendan Puderbach (#31) behind the wheel, they became the 2017 National Class Champions. Drivers Charles Finelli (#83) and Phillippe Denes (#98) will be racing the streets of Toronto at the Honda Indy in Toronto.

The Road to Indy, presented by Cooper Tires, is the IndyCar sanctioned racecar driver development program featuring three tiers of open-wheel racing – Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires,IndyPro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship. Winners of each series are afforded opportunities and scholarships to help aspiring drivers move up the ladder to compete in IndyCar and race in the Indy 500.

The Honda Indy is the annual IndyCar race on the Streets of Toronto, located downtown at Exhibition Place. The event runs from Friday July 12 to Sunday July 14, 2019. Each day is packed fast action on- track racing activity and offers many off-track activities and fun for race fans of all ages. For more information and tickets visit www.hondaindy.com

Surgere specializes in using sensor-based technologies to track assets as they move through each segment of the Supply Chain. Their role in the evolving i4.0 supply chain is to provide their clients with advanced asset visibility, data analytics, and strategic guidance while reducing costs. Headquartered in North Canton, Ohio, Surgere utilizes a community based approach in conjunction with proprietary hardware and software to produce unprecedented data accuracy ratings of 99.98%.

For more information and to see why they were selected as the technology hub for AutoSphere, please visit www.surgere.com